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Chicken rice pilaf recipe
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Chicken Rice Pilaf Recipe – How to make rice pilaf with chicken drumsticks

Learn how to create this delightfully nourishing dish, bursting with unique flavors from an amazing blend of spices, garlic, and fresh vegetables. You’ll love every bite!
Course Main Dishes
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Keyword Chicken Drumsticks and Rice Pilaf Recipe, Chicken Rice Pilaf Recipe, How to make chicken and rice pilaf from scratch, How to make rice pilaf with chicken drumsticks
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 5 servings
Calories 118kcal

Ingredients

  • 600 ml water
  • 400 g chicken drumsticks
  • 200 g basmati rice
  • 1 carrot
  • onion
  • 50 ml vegetable oil
  • 1 garlic head
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. turmeric
  • ¼ tsp. zira
  • ¼ tsp. coriander
  • A pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Clean and peel vegetables. Cut onion and carrot into thin slices.
  • Take a cast-iron pot or a stainless steel double-bottom one and heat vegetable oil on medium heat. Add sliced onion and sauté until soft and semi-translucent. Add carrot slices to the pot and cook the mixture for additional 5 minutes.
  • Place chicken drumsticks in the pot using sautéed vegetables as a pillow.
  • Sprinkle all the seasoning, and herbs together with salt, over the chicken. I like to buy whole zira and coriander seeds and grind them myself using a mortar and a pestle.
  • Cover meat with 200 ml of boiling water, wait until the water boils in the pot again, and let the meat cook for 20 minutes on low steady simmering under the lid.
  • Meanwhile, rinse the rice under cold running water. It usually takes me 5 to 7 times of rinsing to get to clear water.
  • In 20 minutes, when the meat absorbs the entire flavor from the herbs and softens, you will have the backbone of the pilaf ready – the so-called zirvak.
  • Spread out rinsed rice in one layer over the chicken drumsticks evenly. Do not mix! I repeat do not even think to stir the mixture!
  • Pour the rest of the water – 400 ml – slowly and carefully. There should be enough liquid to cover the rice together with meat 2 cm higher than the grain. If not then add more water.
  • Let the water boil, cook pilaf for 10-15 minutes on low heat. Peel the top layer from the garlic head; do not divide it into separate cloves. Place it in the center of the cooking pilaf. Using a wooden stick, make several holes in the rice to let the steam out. Let it simmer for additional 10 minutes or until all the liquid evaporates/absorbs into the grain.
  • In the end, you can give it a little stir. Cover the pot with a lid and set it aside for 10 minutes before serving!

Notes

*calories per 100 g